WASHINGTON — Paul Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace is taking issue with a Wall Street Journal report that its Stratolaunch project is being reassessed based on shifts in the market towards smaller satellites that don’t require the massive mothership the company is building for air-launched rockets.

The Nov. 17 story quotes Vulcan Aerospace President Chuck Beames saying Stratolaunch hasn’t be shelved, but that the company is reassessing the project to determine “what’s the best way forward.” The story, citing unnamed aerospace industry officials concludes that the market’s shift toward smaller satellites “threaten [the project’s] overall viability.”

Vulcan Aerospace remains steadfast in its mission to transform space transportation to low-Earth orbit by dramatically changing the current model of space launch. It is unfortunate that the recent, inaccurate, report by the Wall Street Journal implies, via unnamed sources, that this mission has wavered and is based on nothing more than rumors and speculation, not facts.

Today, space launch continues to be hampered by long delays and high costs, especially for the burgeoning class of space entrepreneurs. To best serve the variety of space operators with more convenient and less expensive options, we envision affording the satellite operator multiple launch vehicle options with varying payload capabilities. An effort of this scope and ambition is a massive undertaking and takes time to develop. We are unwavering in our commitment to its success and expect to achieve additional milestones in 2016, as we continue to advance against our original timeline of being fully in service by the end of the decade.